PORCH PROJECT - phase one complete

Today I finished the major construction. All the most expensive and arduous work is done. Below you see how I used shims to space the boards. The shim is about 1/4 inch thick at the wide end. When I got past the halfway point on the deck I doublechecked my measurements to make sure things would fit roughly as they were supposed to, then I went to the west end and cut the end boards to fit around the pillar, as I did on the east end. I cut the remaining boards to length and put them roughly in place so I could fiddle with the placement to see that the spacing was fairly even. The spacing is a bit wider on the west half of the porch, but not so anyone would notice it. It falls within my 90% success rate requirement.

Most of the work was pretty repetitive; cutting boards to length, setting them in place, pre-drilling and driving the screws. I have foam knee-pads from when I re-built the downstairs bathroom and did the tile in the shower, and they were a good thing to have for this. The next goal is to design and build steps for the west end of the porch for direct access from the car. After that all the work will be cosmetic, re-using as much of the old wood as I can to make it resemble its original form, with certain needed improvements. I worked over four hours - more if you count going to buy the lumber, and I am tired. It was also quite a bit warmer than I like it to be for this kind of work. Donna doesn't know how hard it is for me to act nice and friendly when I am this tired, but I think I fooled her.